Post#9 » by tsherkin » Mon Jun 7, 2010 4:23 am
Most managers regularly do things that piss off the fanbase. Sometimes, they even make the right decision and it backfires... and it pisses off the fanbase. Or they make the "wrong" decision and it works, and it pisses of the fanbase.
Cito's always pissed me off with how he manages pitching. I've never really much cared for pinch hitting all that much unless a guy has huge platoon splits, and pinch runners don't usually mean much unless you're doing it for a pitcher or you've got a noteworthy platoon of catchers and want to sub a guy out... but we have little speed worth mentioning and we don't really do anything but jack the ball out of the park or put it off the wall anyhow, so it's not like it much matters to us one way or the other.
Realistically, the only thing about Cito that bugs me, and always has, even back when I was a wee lad just learning the game is that he's stubborn as Hell about mismanaging the rotation and the pen. That, and his awful lovefests with certain players.
That said, he's still a good manager. He's still a manager who deserves to manage at the ASG if he feels like it. He's not a manager who absolutely maximizes everything and plays every percentage and what-not, but he has his strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else. And after some of the guys we had before Gibbons (who pissed me off even MORE than Cito), I don't know why there's any noise about him, really. As long as he treats the young pitchers with something approaching kid gloves so they don't blow their arms out, I don't really care. The Overbay thing was annoying, but he does seem to be coming around a little of late, and I'm sure Hill will, too.
*shrug*
